The Maine Black Bears had eight players get on the scoring sheet Saturday afternoon with four reaching double figures, en route to an 84-79 non-conference men’s basketball win over the Canisius University Golden Griffins at the Koessler Athletic Center in Buffalo, New York.
After Maine scored the first five points to take an early advantage, Canisius would come back to tie it on three different occasions over the opening six minutes of the first half. The Golden Griffins took their only lead of the game 19-17 on a three-pointer by Jasman Sangha with 11:40 to go. The Black Bears responded to by going on a run of 21-4 over the next seven minutes to take the lead for good and the biggest of the afternoon at 38-23. AJ Lopez (7) and Kellen Tynes (5) combined for 12 of those points, as Maine shot 62% from the floor (6-13, 46% on three-pointers) in the opening 20 minutes to take a nine point advantage into halftime 44-35.
After the lead went back to 12 for Maine early in the second half, Canisius made a run to close the gap. A 20-10 spurt would cut it to 57-55 with 12:05 left to play on a layup from Evan van der Plas. Two free throws by Tynes and a three-pointer from Christopher Mantis pushed it back to a seven point Black Bears lead, and the Golden Griffins wouldn’t get any closer than three the rest of the way in falling to 0-11 on the season.
Senior guard Quion Burns led the way in the win for Maine finishing with 17 points and seven rebounds. Tynes and Mantis (3-5 three-pointers) put in 15 points a piece. Tynes filled up the stat sheet once again going a perfect 5-5 from the field, 4-4 from the free throw line, with nine assists, four rebounds, one steal, and one blocked shot. Killian Gribben also got into double figures shooting a very proficient 4-5 and registering 10 points. Lopez and Jaden Clayton recorded nine points each. Lopez had three rebounds and three assists, while Clayton dished out seven assists and had five rebounds. Keelen Steele (5) and Ridvan Tutic (4) also scored in the victory, and as a team they finished with a 62% field goal percentage (7-16 three-pointers, 43.8%). Sangha led Canisius University on the loss with 26 points, while Paul McMillan IV had 22, and Tana Kopa contributed 16. The Golden Griffins play out of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. Maine is now 8-5 on the season and is currently 2-1 on their four game road trip. They finish off the road swing in New York against Coastal Athletic Association member Stony Brook next Saturday, December 21 at 1 p.m. The Black Bears have just two non-conference games left (at Stony Brook, home vs Boston University on 12/29) before beginning America East Conference play at Bryant on Saturday, January 4.
